Children are at the center of every humane society

“Children’s lives have become an enormous field of commercialization.” Frieder Otto Wolf, President of the Humanist Association of Germany, regretted this yesterday with a view to the United Nations’ World Children’s Day, which is to be held annually on November 20. Wolf also called for the ideas of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to be recalled on this day and for the principles set out in the Convention to be critically compared with reality. It is not only the implementation of the 54 rights set out in the Convention that can be put to the test again. Questions about the best interests of the child that are not formulated as rights should also be asked again. “At the same time, this day could serve as an opportunity to pay tribute to the many people and their organizations who work in a special way for the well-being of children.” According to Wolf, however, society as a whole is always responsible for creating living conditions that are truly suitable for children. It should not be considered honest to want to evade the resulting obligations without convincing reasons. It must also be ensured that all parents are able to meet the real needs of their children. “Whereas in earlier eras, child development was almost exclusively subordinated to the ability and discretion of the parents or even just the father, to their multiple disadvantage, I can now see a development in which both people and social institutions no longer adequately accept their responsibility to care for their children,” says Wolf. Unfortunately, this is also evident in the statistics on the development of child poverty, which is becoming more and more widespread – even in rich societies. He reminded the audience that creating good living conditions and future-oriented development opportunities for all children in the country, regardless of their origin, gender or the religion of their parents, is a fundamental task of any society that is to be humane and peaceful. This goal should actually be seriously pursued by very broad social alliances. The fact that this is not the case shows that something is fundamentally wrong in our societies today, Wolf continued. Children should always be seen in their independence, their special value as growing human beings and with their real needs. “We must critically question the commercialization that has grown in this respect, which is not a liberation but creates new dependencies, as well as any serious subordination of children’s well-being, their natural interests and rights to the arbitrariness of authorities. Children must not be reduced to a mere ‘sales market’; they must be taken seriously as developing subjects with their own wishes and perspectives. This criticism of the ‘consumer society’ with its promise of being able to satisfy all human needs through the sale of goods is particularly topical with regard to a good life for children in our society. However, it should not be used as an excuse to ‘save’ on public facilities and services for children and to leave parents alone with tasks that they cannot manage on their own.” Especially in times of crisis, children depend on themselves and their parents being able to rely on the solidarity of society – and here too, only responsible democratic politics can create reliable prospects for the future.